Íntima Fracção e outros programas

Já me tinha ocorrido escrever sobre este tema, mas por alguma razão esta foi uma daquelas coisas que ficou sempre para trás, sempre esquecida. Por vezes as coisas que nos são mais familiares, ainda que as apreciemos bastante, acabam por perder protagonismo face à novidade…

Vou então deixar aqui umas notas sobre a rádio.

Mas não é da rádio da manhã, com os locutores frenéticos a tentar manter os condutores acordados enquanto conduzem para o emprego, tentando enfiar um máximo de piadas pelo meio da miríade de spots publicitários, indicações de trânsito, previsões do tempo, resumos das não-notícias dos jornais da manhã e músicas das playlists gastas que nos fazem ficar enjoados de tanto as ouvir.

Nem tão pouco da rádio da tarde, com menos interrupções de trânsito e de previsões do tempo, mas mais cheias ainda das playlists, a esta hora ainda menos ousadas, mais gastas e mais chatas.

A rádio de que eu quero falar brevemente é a rádio da boa!
Aquela que nos faz ter vontade de ouvir rádio. Que nos faz ter vontade de reservar um pouco do nosso tempo para simplesmente prestarmos atenção ao que estamos a ouvir. Aquela que nos obriga a fazer o esforço para estar disponível àquela hora para ouvir aquele programa. Ou então a arranjar alternativas… Mas já lá vamos. ;-)

Quem ler este artigo e tiver idade para tal, talvez se recorde de um conceito antigo —e já (quase) esquecido— da rádio chamado “programas de autor” (musicais, claro). Pois é, aqueles programas que passavam músicas escolhidas a dedo pelo seu autor. Músicas que de alguma forma encaixavam umas com as outras, de acordo com uma sensibilidade muito própria de quem fazia a selecção. Podiam ser novas ou muito antigas, podiam ser êxitos de vendas ou lados B de cassetes (lembram-se?) promocionais, mas de alguma forma, se o dito autor fosse bom no que fazia, o conjunto de todas essas músicas valia muitíssimo mais do que as músicas todas, individualmente.
Tempos houve em que este tipo de programa era bastante apreciado e eram produzidos vários deles em várias rádios nacionais.

Assim de repente vem-me à memória a “Hora do Lobo”, do António Sérgio (que foi retirado do ar, pela Comercial, há coisa de meses), as “Noites Longas do Fm Estéreo”, do António Santos (cujo livro de pequenos textos o meu pai comprou e me lembro perfeitamente de andar lá por casa), o mais popular “Oceano Pacífico”, do João Chaves (que nunca apreciei tanto como os outros que mencionei e que penso que talvez ainda seja emitido)…
Penso que hoje ainda temos alguns programas de autor, sobretudo na Antena1 e Antena2, mas estes são de cariz muito específico, com géneros definidos. Os grandes programas de autor de música pop/rock/folk, esses, na prática, acabaram…

Ou pelo menos eu pensei que sim durante bastante tempo.

Talvez fruto de ter sempre vivido (e estudado) na zona de Lisboa, nunca entrei em contacto com essa mina de pequenas jóias que dá pelo nome de RUC (a Rádio Universitária de Coimbra).
Já se percebe pelo discurso que entretanto esse mal foi sanado e, há uns meses (coisa de dois anos, talvez), deparei com um programa que dá pelo nome de “Íntima Fracção”, que era distribuído, na altura em formato podcast, pela própria RUC.

Quando ouvi pela primeira vez a Íntima nem queria acreditar!
Não queria acreditar que ainda havia programas destes e, sobretudo, não queria acreditar que eu me tinha esquecido que, em tempos, uma grande parte das minhas noites era passada a ouvir, precisamente, coisas assim. (Aqui convém explicar que, felizmente nunca fui muito de me colar à televisão, hábito que hoje se tornou ainda mais vincado).

Bom, fui acompanhando a Íntima Fracção como podia, inicialmente via podcast da RUC, depois via podcast GavezDois, até que a Íntima “saiu do ar”.
Foi triste, mas o Francisco Amaral sempre disse que a coisa não se ficava por aí.

E as boas notícias estouraram há umas (poucas) semanas —as tais de que quero, enfim, falar: a Íntima está agora a ser distribuída pelo Expresso On-Line e o último programa, de seu nome “Sonhos e realidade” é, na minha opinião, dos melhores que foram produzidos desde há bastante tempo.
Já tinha saudades da Íntima. Já tinha muitas saudades. Ainda bem que ela voltou!

Entretanto e para não dar a ideia de que este é o início e o final da coisa, existem mais alguns programas de rádio que consumo —geralmente em formato podcast— e que posso recomendar vivamente.

Temos, por exemplo, o “lado B” do Pedro Esteves, que passa em algumas rádios que muito poucos têm a sorte de conseguir recepcionar (Miróbriga fica longe para quem mora em Cascais e já terminei o meu curso no IST há mais anos do que quero admitir) :-)

E não posso deixar de referir o fabuloso “Vidro Azul”, do Ricardo Mariano, que recentemente ganhou honras de emissão na Rádio Radar, de noite, bem de noite, como cabe a um programa deste género.

É bom ter rádio assim. Mesmo que não a oiça via éter, como o fazia há muitos anos, mesmo assim costumo guardar estes programas para a noite, quando eles sabem melhor, quando eles foram feitos para ser apreciados.

Para mim é totalmente verdade que o vídeo não matou as estrelas da rádio.

Atonement

This past weekend I went to the movies again and watched Atonement. (I seem to be going to the cinema a lot these days even though some films I watch aren’t really worth mentioning…)

Atonement is a full-fledged drama, based on the terrible consequences stemming from a false accusation made by a young girl who couldn’t possibly understand what she was putting the other people through.

The action of the film takes place around the time of WWII and the ending is (as it well should) a very sad one.

The story in itself is not terribly original and although I’m quite partial to a good dramatic flick, this is not what drew me to it.
In fact there were three things that made me enjoy the film:

• Being a British film, set in a period which I find particularly interesting, with all of the British flair and mannerisms. For some reason I cannot fully grasp I find this type of story and films really appealing —I still remember watching and thoroughly enjoying the TV show “Brideshead Revisited”, even though I was far too young to fully understand everything that was going on;

• Being a dramatic film which ends “badly”. Yes, I like a dramatic story (even if —or maybe especially if— it is a love story) and I do favor it over an action one any day. And also it is much more close to reality;

• The soundtrack. Composed by Dario Marianelli and played by a full chamber orchestra, I was especially impressed by the interpretation of Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s piano.

This is not a ground-breaking film and I don’t expect it to be one that I’ll remember as a favorite in the long run, but I did quite like to watch it and I had a good time doing so (and that, I believe, is very worthy in itself).

Control

Control —a biography of Ian Curtis, tortured soul and singer of Joy Division.

I almost forgot to mention this film, but luckily Jojo saw it recently and talked about it on her blog and that reminded how much I loved it.

I saw it a few weeks ago and like Jojo said, the photography is nothing short of amazing. I love that it is black and white and it sure fits the mood perfectly. I also quite like Joy Division’s music so in that area I’m a bit biased, but the way the film portrays Ian’s life and each moment that gave rise to each of the songs present in it is really quite interesting.

Of course the sad part is his death (although no surprise there if you knew about the band), but after watching the whole film you start to get why he did it.
A classic —if tragic— case of paying for the mistakes you did in your youth later on (even if he was still really young).

Confusion in her eyes that says it all.
She’s lost control.
And she’s clinging to the nearest passer by,
She’s lost control.
And she gave away the secrets of her past,
And said I’ve lost control again,
And a voice that told her when and where to act,
She said I’ve lost control again.

And she turned around and took me by the hand and said,
I’ve lost control again.
And how I’ll never know just why or understand,
She said I’ve lost control again.
And she screamed out kicking on her side and said,
I’ve lost control again.
And seized up on the floor, I thought she’d die.
She said I’ve lost control.
She’s lost control again.
She’s lost control.
She’s lost control again.
She’s lost control.

Well I had to ‘phone her friend to state my case,
And say she’s lost control again.
And she showed up all the errors and mistakes,
And said I’ve lost control again.
But she expressed herself in many different ways,
Until she lost control again.
And walked upon the edge of no escape,
And laughed I’ve lost control.
She’s lost control again.
She’s lost control.
She’s lost control again.
She’s lost control.

I could live a little better with the myths and the lies,
When the darkness broke in, I just broke down and cried.
I could live a little in a wider line,
When the change is gone, when the urge is gone,
To lose control. When here we come.

Cassandra’s Dream

Last evening I went to the cinema to catch the latest Woody Allen’s film “Cassandra’s Dream”.

I didn’t know the plot, I didn’t know what to expect from it but I do know I enjoyed it very much.

This is not a funny film, there is only so much humor in it. Most of the time it tries (and in my opinion succeeds) to be a deep psychological drama —definitely not a comedy.

Woody sometimes does awful things to his characters, but usually he “only” inflicts psychological pain on them and most often that not everything is set on a humorous setting with high comedic value and so it is all a little easier to digest.

Not this time though: when the going starts to get rougher the funny stuff almost disappears (unless you enjoy the darker humor in things, which I happen to do) and all that is left is this wretched situation the characters got themselves into, the rising and oppressing feeling of despair and the terrible ending.

All in all it got to me in a very big way. Great film!

Cinco Filmes

A Paula achou por bem perguntar-me por cinco filmes de que eu goste particularmente.
Embora nunca tenha participado em nenhuma destas cenas de correntes e tal, acho o tema engraçado e vou listar aqui as minhas escolhas.

Antes de mais um aviso à navegação: eu não sou de todo um cinéfilo inveterado, nem sequer um conhecedor de “bom cinema”, por isso as minhas escolhas vão necessariamente ser um bocado “frouxas”. É a vida! :-)

Para fazer as escolhas optei por um critério muito simples: cinco filmes que, por uma razão ou por outra, acabo por ver e rever repetidamente e não necessariamente os cinco filmes que ache “os melhores que já vi” (até porque essa escolha seria ainda mais difícil).

Os “nomeados” são então:

1. “The Nightmare Before Christmas”
   É uma tradição minha ver este filme por alturas do Natal (está quase na altura!), todos os anos sem falta. O ambiente, a história, as músicas, tudo se conjuga num filme que acho particularmente delicioso. É comum dar por mim a cantarolar algumas das músicas que constam nele em qualquer altura do ano.
   Já agora, não esquecer a versão da “Sally’s Song”, interpretada pela Fiona Apple que foi lançada numa edição especial da banda sonora. Verdadeiramente genial!

2. “Everyone Says I Love You”
   Sendo um fã incondicional de Woody Allen tinha de ter um filme dele nas minhas escolhas, claro. Agora que foi difícil escolher um de entre eles, isso foi!
   Mais um musical, mas com todos os jeitos e trejeitos que adoro no Woody. Uma história simples, sem grandes pretensões, mas um filme que me deixa muito bem disposto e que volta e meia dou por mim com vontade de rever (apesar de não ser, definitivamente, o melhor filme dele);

3. “Lost In Translation”
   Nem sei muito bem o que mais me atrai neste filme. Acho que é todo o ambiente ligeiramente depressivo e a sensação estranha de que toda a gente anda completamente perdida no que diz respeito à vida e ao que quer dela. Há alguma coisa naquele desespero silencioso, na sensação de que algo está profundamente errado na nossa existência e que falta algo de muito importante, mas não sabemos bem o quê, que faz muito sentido para mim.
   A banda sonora também tem um papel muito importante, com músicas que fizeram parte da banda sonora da minha própria juventude, todas elas muito bem escolhidas;

4. “High Fidelity”
   Música. Escolhas. Listas. Relacionamentos falhados.
   Adoro este filme por todas as razões e mais algumas. Por um lado identifico-me de forma assustadora com partes da história e dos personagens —a música é uma das partes mais importantes da minha vida, as mixed tapes que me levavam tardes inteiras a fazer até ficarem perfeitas, muitas delas com objectivos bem definidos, a obsessão pelas listas de músicas com determinados temas…—, por outro lado a ligação da música aos eventos relevantes da nossa vida, em particular aos relacionamentos que vamos tendo, é uma constante da minha própria vida até hoje.
   Definitivamente um dos meus filmes preferidos de sempre;

5. “Four Weddings And A Funeral”
   Bom, se descartarmos o final feliz, este é um filme que me atrai particularmente.
   Nesta altura penso que o Hugh Grant ainda não era assim tão conhecido como isso e o seu ar de Britânico resignado com as vicissitudes da vida era bastante credível.
   Relacionamentos falhados, histórias tristes que acabam mal, um filme que também “roda” regularmente em tardes frias e chuvosas.

E pronto. Foram os filmes que me vieram à cabeça assim de repente. Por um lado ainda bem que não estive muito tempo a pensar nisto e que não estou em casa com a minha colecção de DVDs à mão, senão iria ser impossível escolher (só de pensar nisso lembro-me, por exemplo, do “Ladyhawke”, do primeiro “Batman” (o do Tim Burton), do “Ghost In The Shell”, do “Dead Man” e… é melhor ficar por aqui mesmo). :-)

Ah! pois, sendo isto uma corrente é suposto eu “passá-la” a mais algumas pessoas mas olhem, tenham lá paciência, mas não vou nomear ninguém em particular. Quem lêr o meu blog e quiser seguir já sabe: escolha cinco filmes de que goste muito e liste-os no seu próprio blog. Divirtam-se! :-)

Quick recap for 2007-11-07

A quick recap of my latest forays into the arts and entertainment realms, lest I forget about these things as time goes by:

• A couple of weeks ago I went to the movies to watch “A Outra Margem”, a portuguese film which caught me by surprise for being quite good. The cast and the soundtrack are great and the story, although not terribly original —apart from the main setup, the transvestite part and so on— is interesting enough. I had a real nice time watching it.

• Then, last week, I went to a more mainstream title —”Elizabeth: The golden age”. This one is also an interesting film, but I must confess I didn’t find it as gripping or as satisfying as “A Outra Margem”. A bit too Hollywoody to lend credibility to the story being told, I guess. But even so, I did enjoy it, even if I could just as well have watched it on the telly on a Sunday afternoon. Which I never actually do, but you get the idea;

• Also (and I have to admit this with some reluctance) I’ve finally decided to start watching Kieslowski’s trilogy “Trois Couleurs” (yes, I know, I’m almost 15 years late), which I’ve had on DVD for maybe a couple of years, but which I hadn’t felt up to, until now. I started with “Trois Couleurs: Bleu” and I’m hooked. I’m not sure whether the other two movies will be as good as this one, and in fact I’ve always felt I would like this one better —given what little I know of the plot and the actors—, but I’m looking forward to another quiet evening at home to get to the second one!

• Other than that, on the music front, I’ve been pretty idle lately and the only thing I’ve done that’s noteworthy was to attend Rufus Wainwright’s concert last evening. Now I wasn’t (and still am not) a true connoisseur of his work so I’m not in a position to go deeply into the line-up chosen for this particular show, but what I can say is that he sings exceptionally well, with a range and intonation that could put many performers to shame and a most powerful voice. On the entertainment department (which is a major part of the show), well… I guess you have to like his type of show to fully appreciate it. Me, I wasn’t all that thrilled with his jokes and stories, but I didn’t hate it either. Let’s just say that the music was great, but the show overall was not my cup of tea. Still, I’m glad I went to see him perform live just this once.

• Oh! and I’ve started my NaNoWrimo novel from scratch three time now (which is what you get when you don’t plan and decide on a plot ahead of time) and I’m still making headway into it. Long gone is the chance of making it to 50.000 words by the end of November but then I never really expected to make it anyway, so no great loss there. :-)

Ed Harcourt at Santiago Alquimista

Last evening Ed Harcourt did a show at Santiago Alquimista.

I went to the concert without having the faintest idea about who he was or what kind of music he played. Tuxa Heard a couple of his songs on the radio and liked it and so we decided to give it a shot.

Well, after the fact I must say I’m more than pleased I went. I really liked the show, technical problems and memory faults and all. The only thing that bugged me was that this guy showed up almost an hour late, so that the show started nearly at 23h00 on a Sunday…

This is a kind of performer that I don’t get to see much of nowadays, the singer-songwriter who does it all by himself on stage, plays lots of instruments and fiercely loves his piano. And a really powerful voice to boot!

The songs themselves are all over the map, from the pure sentimental, to the mellow to the noisy rock-style songs. Oh and the loops, we mustn’t forget about that because even if (as he said) it is not terribly original, it still is great fun to watch it be done and to listen to it.

Now that I’ve done a little research I found out that this guy already has 5 albums. He slipped right under my radar until now, but not anymore. Well, at least not for live shows as I don’t really know how I’ll feel about listening to a full record of him…
Anyway, live and on stage he rules!

Oh and another thing: this was the first time I’ve ever been to Santiago Alquimista and I must say I absolutely loved it!
The whole concept is great, the theatre/concert/show/bar hall. And the physical space itself, very roomy, very aired (huge windows for all the smoke to go out of), very small (it tops up at 200 people and yesterday there were far fewer people than that which made it all the better for this particular concert)…

I definitely must track down what goes on in there in the future because it just lends itself to the type of shows that I enjoy the most.

I took a few pictures of the show with my cell phone (my my, how I’ve fallen for this one…). They’re at Flickr.

Technorati Tags: music, live shows

X-Men III: The Last Stand

Could someone please just take Brett Ratner and somehow make sure he just can’t get anywhere near a movie studio again in the future? Ever? Please? Seriously!

Call it a merciful act. Merciful on all of us!

I think this strip sums it up pretty well.

Mogwai on Lisbon Soundz

Went to see part of the Lisbon Soundz show last night.

We went there mainly because Tuxa wanted to go see Franz Ferdinand and although the full show featured 4 bands we arrived there later on and only caught Mogwai and the aforementioned Franz Ferdinand.

So while Franz Ferdinand is an OK band and is rather good at live shows (even if they could work on their new material, maybe trying to get the singing tuned between the two singers) ;-), for me it was Mogwai that made the night.

I didn’t expect them to actually be that good on a live performance, for the kind of music they play. I don’t know why, I’ve never actually thought about it, I just didn’t think that it would be worth it.

Boy was I wrong! Mogwai live is a revelation. Not only because of the powerful sound they create, but also because of their attitude towards the whole thing. They are just a relaxed bunch of musicians, thoroughly enjoying themselves while playing their music.

Also fun to notice was that the crowd that was gathered to watch Mogwai was comprised of people from the early twenties to maybe their thirty-manies, but right after they finished their performance most of them faded to the back and a rush of kids on their teens to early twenties filled in the space just front and center from the stage.

As it would happen Tuxa was on that kind of a mood too, so we also ended up right there in the middle of all the teen-fueled jumping, waving and shouting while Franz Ferdinand played. Ah the memories… :-)

Tuxa thoroughly enjoyed it though and the fact that many of the people there were maybe half our age didn’t stop her from joining the singing, waving, jumping crowd. A good show altogether.

Next up, barring any surprises, is Sigur Rós in November.

It’s Scott’s fault!

I’m sleepy.

I stayed awake way longer than I should yesterday and it’s all Scott Card’s fault.

I started reading Ender’s Game and couldn’t bring myself to stop reading for a long while.

On the one hand I feel sorry it took me so long to find out about it, but on the other hand I get to have some great reading now and that’s great.

I wonder how this could have slipped under my radar for so long, but then when I was a teenager things were quite different and I didn’t have the Internet to dig this things up…

The book has been on my “to read” pile for almost a year now and I feel that I will be adding to it shortly with the rest of the books on the Ender saga…

Technorati Tags: Books, Reading

The circus without a clown

Just came back from the circus. But not just any circus, no, this time I went to see a Chinese circus.

For the first time in a long, long time I’ve felt like a child. I caught myself gazing at what was happening in the ring, jaw ajar and eyes wide open so many times during the show I just couldn’t believe it.

For three years I’ve been trying to go and see this circus and there was always some thing or other that got in the way, but this year Tuxa and I decided to just go and the only thing I can say about it is that I feel really stupid about not having gone before.

I really enjoy the circus and every year I at least go to the Christmas circus, but from now on it will be very difficult to ever again face the “eastern” circus the way I’ve always done. The fact is that apart from the “Cirque Du Soleil” nothing comes close to this. Not even remotely! (And the “Cirque Du Soleil” is a different kind of show anyway so the only possible comparison is in the spectacularity of each show).

And the best part of the chinese circus is that there are no clowns and no animals! Hurray for that!!

I won’t go into much detail because today was a rather long day and I’m really tired, but I just want to relate the following story: we ran into an old friend of Tuxa’s at the circus and after the show we talked for a few minutes before the cold drove us away. One of his remarks about the show went something along these lines —“Well, now we know what the Chinese do with at least some of the many superb athletes they have, which don’t make it into their olympic teams”.

Yes, it really is that good.

The trip

Yet another trip down memory lane this morning on the way to work.

It started out with:

“I’m going to the darklands
to talk in rhyme
with my chaotic soul
…”

Quickly followed by:

“Deep one perfect morning
as the sun is heading up
into the sky
…”

And on to the mythic:

“Step back and watch the sweet thing
breaking everything she sees
she can take my darkest feeling
tear it up till i’m on me knees
…”

Ah, the angst, the gloom, the despair… Those where truly the days!
Can’t wait to get back home and listen to the rest of it.
This was a christmas present which I’ve only come around to appreciate now.

“you were my sunny day rain
you were the clouds in the sky
you were the darkest sky
but your lips spoke gold and honey
that’s why i’m happy when it rains
i’m happy when it pours
…”

Melinda and Melinda

Just came in from the movies.

Tuxa, always the cinema-lover, suggested we’d go see Woody Allen’s latest —Melinda and Melinda.

I knew absolutely nothing about this film. Actually (and this is a little embarrassing for me to admit) I didn’t even know he had a new film! I really like his work and I think I can actually say I’m a fan. As much as I can be anyway, given my general disregard for the cinema…

But anyway, on the way there Tuxa told me a few facts about this particular film. First, Woody Allen didn’t appear in it, which takes a bit off the excitement but it is not such a big deal. Secondly there were critics who loved it. Thirdly, there were critics who said it was Woody’s worst. From these two last facts it was clear that it was indeed Woody Allen in it’s most classic. Which is a good thing.

And in fact it was a very enjoyable film.

Not his greatest work, for sure, but still, a very good movie, with some beautiful moments, the characters are very catchy, very compelling, you feel a connection with most of them from the moment they appear…

All in all a film very much worth seeing. Even if you don’t actually go to a theatre, see it on DVD later on, it’s well worth the time.

But then the fact that we went to this small old-style theatre, where you have no publicity before the film, very few teasers, the session still has a break in the middle and —my favorite— the room is small enough that you actually hear the projector rolling the tape in the quietest moments of the film… That just blows me away. What better way to enjoy good old Woody Allen? All the neurotic characters, the insane dialogs, they just come to life on a setting such as this.

What a great evening! And I was needing it too.

Music blogs

The (not so) new generation of music blogs or mp3 blogs or whatever you may call it are indeed a great idea.

With the right setup you can spend part of your (working) day listening to new music with just a few clicks of the mouse.

The concept is very simple: mp3 tracks which are presented as samples of a band’s work or album and which are available for a limited time-span so as not to irate the RIAA gods (or is it demons?).

I’ve had a leg up from Fred on catching up on the interesting blogs and even though I’ve only started “tuning in” a couple of days ago I’ve already discovered quite a few good songs and bands that show great promise.

Radio Paradise and DI’s Chillout are really getting some strong competition these days.

Tim Booth at the Aula Magna

Just came back from the concert.

First off I just have to say that I like Tim Booth a lot. And I liked James a lot too (probably even more). And they (James) have been to Portugal more times than I care to remember. And I managed to miss every single one of their concerts. Every. Single. One. That’s what being young, broke and stupid does to you.
Well then, now that that’s out of the way let’s get on with it.

This concert was based mainly on Tim’s new album, Bone, a few tracks from his previous one, Booth and the Bad Angel (made by him and Angelo Badalamenti —that’s right the one from Twin Peaks and so on— and which I still like even better than Bone) and a couple of songs from James.

The concert was great, albeit starting almost an hour late. I’m definitely getting old as this things just piss me off. Actually no, I’ve always hated this kind of thing. Not in another type of concert like in a festival or something like that where you expect it to happen and don’t care at that point, but in a single, booked concert? Almost an hour? Come on!

Still they did get there and they did put on a show. And what a show! This is clearly a band made up of people who know their stuff. Tim is a great composer, this is well known (and I’m not counting tastes here, if you hate it, you hate it) and also a great performer, but the rest of the band is more than capable of carrying their own weight around him. The playing was almost flawless during the whole show and even the hardest vocals were always right on the stop. Just great!

As I said the musics that were played were mostly from Tim’s two latest albums (heh, just can’t bring myself around to say latest CDs… Guess it is just as well I don’t say latest records. If you don’t know what the heck I’m on about you’re too young, go read some Marilyn Manson reviews now, shoo!) but there was still a great rendition of Laid and another mind shattering version of Sometimes. But the best part was that they did not play Sit Down, despite the shrieking pleas from some half crazed girl on the middle of the room! :-)

All in all a great (almost) hour and a half concert with a very simple lineup (one guitar, one bass guitar, one keyboard and one guy on main vocals), very loud sound, lots of distortion on the guitars… Sometimes it sounded like the good old rock concerts of my youth. Sometimes it was just so soft. Other times the vocals just filled the room all by themselves. A great time all around.

And I like the Aula Magna room more and more each time. This time there was even a girl siting a few sits over with a great big SLR camera and a great big lens on it, shooting almost in front of everyone (not to mention all the point-and-shoots and the cell-phone cameras) and no one bothered her. Now this was frustrating as I was in the front row of the “normal” seats (not the doctorate chairs but right behind them) and I could have got some beautiful shots from that position. Oh well, maybe next time I’ll remember.

I’ve been real lucky lately regarding concerts. Almost every one I’ve been to has been great, as opposed to last year when I had some big disappointments. Either I’m getting better at picking them (and people who offer me the tickets —as was the case this time— too) or I’ve just has plain dumb luck. Either way, let the good times roll! :-)